MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Higher Education (CHED) disclosed yesterday that the agency had warned 132 nursing schools whose graduates have consistently flunked the Professional Regulation Commission (PRC) nursing licensure examinations for five years to either shape up or phase out their nursing programs.

MANILA, Philippines – Rigging last Monday’s polls was not possible with the automated election system, the Commission on Elections (Comelec) said yesterday.

MANILA, Philippines – The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has been swamped with disqualification cases and other electoral protests a few days after the country held its first automated elections.

FOUR Philippine universities made it to the top 200 list of Asian universities drawn up by the consultancy Quacquarelli Symonds Ltd. (QS) for 2010. The top Philippine university on the list was the Jesuit-run Ateneo de Manila University, which tied with Taiwan’s National Central University in the 58th slot.

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines – Smoke, sparks and popping sounds much like what’s heard during the New Year came from the ceiling in front of the Provincial Election office in Bacolod City at 11:05 a.m. Friday.

Estrada camp, others warn of massive poll fraud Speed there certainly was, in giving out the election returns via the precinct count, but accuracy of the vote count certainly appears to have failed, giving rise to massive electronic poll fraud marking the country’s first automated elections.

It should be clear to everyone by now that, except perhaps for the Iglesia ni Cristo, there is no such thing as a “religious vote” in the Philippines.

The May 10 elections were supposed to have ushered Filipino voters into the modern age of computerized voting, but the results show the country will remain stuck with feudal-style politics as dynasties secured elective positions at the provincial, congressional and local levels.

MANILA, Philippines – Foreign portfolio investments or ‘hot money’ registered with the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP) jumped by about 65 percent in the first four months of the year as investors invested more in government securities and stocks despite jitters brought about by the recently concluded May 10 elections, data released yesterday showed.

MANILA, Philippines – The government is set to release an additional P100 million for exporters after the government realigned the initial P1-billion export fund for calamity relief.

MANILA, Philippines—Roman Catholic bishops around the country Thursday aired their support for “president-in-waiting” Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III in his promise to fight poverty and corruption, but reminded that the Church’s stand on the Reproductive Health (RH) Bill would never change.

While the country debated health care reform in the first quarter of 2010, the nation’s five biggest insurance companies saw their profits soar, raised consumers’ premiums, offered fewer benefits and lost 2.8 million customers, mostly because consumers could no longer afford their plans, according to a new report from Health Care for America Now (HCAN).

Brussels, 14 May 2010 (ITUC OnLine):  The ITUC has welcomed the adoption of a new child labour “Roadmap” http://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/—dgreports/—dcomm/documents/meetingdocument/wcms_127018.pdf at an international conference in the Dutch capital The Hague this week, which will give a new push to reach a target set by the International Labour Organisation to eliminate the worst forms of child labour…

MANILA, Philippines—The fight between the “Noy-Mar” and “Noy-Bi” advocates has been traced to the rivalry between the Hyatt 10 and groups identified with the so-called Kamag-anak Inc. of ex-Tarlac Rep. Jose Cojuangco, the Philippine Daily Inquirer has learned from sources in the camp of presidential front-runner Sen. Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III.

ALONG with the seasoned politicians and entertainers, former athletes and sports personalities also ran for office this year, and, as in any sporting event, there were winners and losers.

THE members of the so-called Hyatt 10, who defected from the Cabinet of President Gloria Arroyo in 2005, on Wednesday outlined the agenda for the new administration under Senator Benigno Aquino III.

The Chamber of Automotive Manufacturers of the Philippines Inc. (Campi) said the government must patch the loopholes in the new motor vehicle program to attract more investments in the industry. “Our country going through its first taste of automated elections reflects democracy in action. This augurs well for the Philippines and for Filipinos, as foreign…

Foreign direct investment (FDI) to the Philippines rose for the first time this year in February.

SALES abroad of Philippine-made goods grew at the fastest pace on record in March, with the quick recovery of electronics raising the possibility of an upgrade in the industry’s forecast. The National Statistics Office (NSO) on Wednesday said merchandise exports in March jumped 43.7 percent to $4.176 billion from $2.907 billion last year.

MANILA, Philippines – The country’s export earnings rose to a record high of 43.7 percent to $4.18 billion in March as the global recovery spurred demand for locally-made electronics goods.

MANILA, Philippines – Critics have conceded that the automated election system (AES) used in last Monday’s polls was a success. The Concerned Citizens’ Movement (CCM) of University of the Philippines law professor Harry Roque Jr., one of the groups that earlier opposed the AES before the Supreme Court (SC), admitted that it was “absolutely thrilled…

Reelectionist Muntinlupa City Mayor Aldrin San Pedro was proclaimed Tuesday afternoon as winner over former Mayor Jaime Fresnedi.

The people have spoken—a minority of them, at least. Noynoy Aquino is our next president. “Vox populi est suprema lex” (The voice of the people is the supreme law), as they say. Nobody can dispute that.

Had Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile bowed to pressure, especially from some of his colleagues, to elect a new Senate head before the May 10 elections to avert a leadership vacuum in the executive branch, that would have been a futile exercise. The proposed change in the Senate leadership stemmed from fears of a failure…

The people have spoken. Now the hard part begins for the new president, Noynoy Aquino. Someone has reminded me to observe the hundred-day honeymoon period that new presidents are supposed to enjoy after they are sworn in, before those of us who don’t like Noynoy can start criticizing him again. On the other hand, another…

THE software piracy rate in the Philippines stood at 69 percent last year, unchanged since 2007, according to the Asia-Pacific regional office of the Business Software Alliance.

SENATOR Benigno Aquino III, who headed for a landslide victory in this week’s presidential election, on Tuesday, renewed a campaign vow to go after President Arroyo and her cronies for any corrupt acts in office.

The automated election system failed to bring change to Lanao del Sur, a traditional warlord and goon country of Mindanao, where violence and a low voter turnout marked Monday’s elections, as they did in the past.

SOME of President Gloria Arroyo’s allies won in the country’s first automated elections on Monday despite being linked to the unpopular chief executive, but most of her Cabinet men lost even if she won as a representative of Pampanga province.

Updating of results suspended Canvassing of election returns (ERs) from some 76,347 clustered precincts cannot proceed after the Commission on Elections (Comelec) on Tuesday found out that there were some damaged compact flash cards in still unidentified areas.